EP 0 751 720 B 1 describes a flashlight holder for protective helmets comprising a carrier element, an adjustment means, and a mounting adaptor means connected to the carrier element by said adjustment means, characterized in that the mounting adaptor means is adapted to releasably attach the holder directly to a side of the protective helmet, to withstand extensive abuse in a heavy industrial environment, and that the adjustment means allows for rotation of the carrier element in any direction relative to the mounting adaptor means, where the adjustment means comprises a swivel ball-socket arrangement, where the ball of this ball-socket arrangement is an integral part of the carrier element, where the socket of the ball-socket arrangement is incorporated within an upper part of the mounting adaptor means, and where the ball of the ball-socket arrangement is secured into the socket by tightening means. This holder consists of many individual parts, including a ball-socket arrangement that must be elaborately mounted onto the brim of a helmet. One particular disadvantage of this solution is that, while the lamp is arranged on the side of the helmet, it rests far above the wearer's eye level, which severely impairs the visibility for the helmet wearer especially when fighting smoky fires.
An adapter for fastening accessories, in particular headsets, onto protective helmets is known from DE 20 2005 004 936 U1. This solution involves two adapter parts that slide into one another with the help of rails and grooves, where one adapter part is fastened onto the helmet and the second adapter part serves to accommodate the headset. It also features a ratchet element that locks the adapter parts against slipping when slid into one another. The disadvantage of this solution is the necessity for many threaded connections on the helmet and on the equipment. Furthermore, the adapter parts can become jammed when sliding them together, which is time consuming and problematic especially when the equipment needs to be deployed rapidly.
Another adapter for a protective helmet is known from DE 20 2005 006 121 U1. The purpose of this invention is to produce an adapter that can be fitted onto a protective helmet with a thick and/or contoured brim, to allow attachment of accessories such as headsets or flashlights onto the protective helmet. The problem is solved with an adaptor comprising two parts that push into one another, where one part is clipped onto the underside of a helmet brim of said shape, and the second adapter part pushes in parallel to the brim of the helmet. The push-in adapter part has a hole for screwing a headset onto it, for example. It is neither described nor discernible from the drawings as to how, for example, a lamp can be quickly fastened to this adapter. Furthermore, the lamp would rest unfavorably below or above the eye level of the helmet wearer.
The problem was therefore to invent a retrofittable adapter for protective helmets for rapid, separate or combined mounting and removal of equipment such as flashlights and headsets that allows lamps to be mounted at the essential eye level and headsets to be mounted in the ear and mouth area, and which is quick and easy to manipulate and can be deployed on different types of protective helmets.